Covington & Burling Reviews

This place is too big for its own good. I was misled about the position I had applied for; I was told I would get remote access and email on my phone my first day and that I could work as much overtime as I wanted. Turned out none of this was true, and when I questioned why, I was told that the person who told me this was “new” and “shouldn’t have told [me] that”. I’m not sure why this person was allowed to interview me, but... I was hired as a mid level paralegal instead of a senior, which I am, and was primarily assigned the task of reorganizing files. I was allowed to cite check but was required to sign up for future training and a test to determine whether or not I could cite check (doesn’t make sense, right?) There are cameras everywhere including in your office. There are uniformed police outside and cops dressed like lawyers walking around inside. You cannot share your email address with friends or family and you cannot use your computer for banking, etc during your lunch break. My office was a storage room with boxes and bins stacked everywhere. Paralegal management never checked to see if my office was set up beforehand, hence the mess. I felt like I was basically put in my office and forgotten about. No one responded to my calls or emails when I had questions and after three weeks of reorganizing files a senior paralegal sent an email demanding to know who had been reorganizing the files.

Uniforms, seriously! You are required to wear a uniform because that is how little they think of you. The resources are sparse, even though there are hundreds of attorneys. They expect you to be at the whim of every attorneys’ needs, including working long nights, early mornings, weekends, and EVEN overnight shifts. Attorneys and managers yelling and swearing at you, and sometimes being absurdly condescending. Almost never receiving positive comments or being told thank you, even when you are handing something to them or cleaning up their mess. The firm only cares about the attorneys. They barely allow room for growth, and do not invest in more training or learning opportunities for staff. Feeling sick to your stomach every Sunday night.